3KCBWDAY3 - Your Knitting Hero

Blog about someone in the fibre crafts who truly inspires you.

One of the awesome things about being a librarian is that people know I like books, so I get books and bookstore gift cards for holidays and birthdays - AWESOME!

So I was looking through Amazon, wielding a gift card from a remarkably generous someone  ...and there it was, calling me from the computer screen: "Look!  A book with words and funny stuff and also knitting is there, too!"  I am speaking of Knitting Rules, one of the many books by one Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

Also pictured: a bowl of chocolate.  Because why not.

I have other books of hers now -- mostly her essay collections -- but I keep coming back to this slim volume for its variety of uses.  From the very first page, I was hooked (ugh, tangent, sorry: that is a horrible crochet pun that was totally unintended, especially since a crochet implement in my hands is best used for provisional cast-ons and picking up dropped stitches.  But I am very fond of some amazing crochet artisans, so there's that.  Please don't hate me!).  Techniques and patterns and materials discussions and shortcuts and formulas, they're all in there, but mostly there's funny.  And occasional wisdom:

A scarf that has turned out too big is not a failure.  It's a shawl.  p169

Yes.  Common sense.  Because it's hard enough turning string into fabric without bringing all these expectations of perfection into it!

I read through more than twice, and then the back cover bio blurb caught my eye:

Wait, what?  The Yarn Harlot?  Wait, there are knitting blogs?!

Cut to: a whole week of my life gone, reading every single post.
Yeah, I'm that person. 
Seriously, you guys, if you haven't already, read her stuff!

Later, when I caught myself posting daily knitting statuses to Facebook, it gave me pause; I have amazing friends who are very tolerant of my idiosyncrasies, but given time I was sure they would eventually tire of my hobby.  And my husband, while wonderful, is what is known in common parlance as a "non-knitter"; he was blessed with deep stores of patience and absolutely zero interest in anything craft-related.

It was time.  I had to go niche, concentrate and collect all these burbling thoughts somewhere, creating a knitting brain stash that interested parties could enjoy.  Or not, you know, whatever.  Nothing says big knitting trouble like an unfiltered one-way brain broadcast to the internet world, amirite?

This blog: if I'm its mother, SPM is its grandmother.

To read all about other knitting and crochet heroes from those taking part in Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, simply perform a Google search for the tag 3KCBWDAY3.